Gratiaʹno

Brother of the Venetian senator, Brabantio. (Shakespeare: Othello.)

Also a character in The Merchant of Venice, who “talks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice.” He is one of Bassanio’s friends, and when the latter marries Portia, Gratiano marries Nerissa, Portia’s maid.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.